MY WITCH S2: A is for Abduction
by NotQuiteNormOld
Summary: Following the case of the missing Browns, Nerissa is creating a case around Will that Tom Lair cannot defeat with opinion alone. It doesn't help that Will's morale seems to have deteriorated into something entirely new. Disclaim: I don't own W.i.t.c.h.
1. Chapter 1

Time was no punishment, Prince Phobos had found in experience. It would be his own mind, which created a prison - far more devoid and barren of _hope_ than the mere chastity created, in clean-cut limestone which was far more finished than any true prison ought to look. Perhaps an irony, that a Queen so filthy was as set on everything being so..._placed_.

Unlike the other prisoners, conscience was no guard; for the Prince Phobos had found an ability to reprimand such feelings that might have strayed to almost fraternal, the moment that his blood had confessed herself.

_You were never my brother. _No doubt, there were other confessions. The prison had gone silent over time. Today, though the first in a good weeks, was no novelty of being exposed to such as gaudy a costume, in which Prince Phobos' sister attempted subtlety; frowning, or with features placid, as she stood to ignore adolescence, with her gently conspicuous bust. Even, many confessions - many costumes - might've been bolder, than those words quietly uttered in a virginal blush of pink chosen as her dress for her coronation.. In general, many confessions might be bolder; her touches; her looks. But now, her unnatural attempt at daintily fingering a precious stone, around her neck by a simple gold chain, in a far too obvious plight to draw attention to her chest. Anyone would be a half-wit, not to see her monumental words: _You were never my brother._

Perhaps implied as a joke; one final desperation for attention.. It was her, standing at his cell, admitting - on the day of his betrayal - that if he'd whispered something else, he might've been free'd. She probably would've let him drag a blade up her spine, as long as he'd got her orgasming first. But nobody need know their Queen was a dirty welt on their culture.

Prince Phobos, for too long now, had not carried the care for the _'love' _of affection. Even on the power trip he'd once been certained - Prince Phobos, at the very least, had more pride than to kiss Her Majesty goodnight. No matter _how _she foolishly wound the gold of her neck piece around her fingers. "It's our mothers.. One of the women hid it from you.."

He only returned expectant, cold, grey eyes with a smirk he knew to rattle her, perhaps in a far more carnal way as it was not the most bashful, nor humble of dresses. And when she'd arrived, her guard certainly blushed. Toying with a pale blue pendant - which had never been their mother's - it was almost impressive for her to be so forward as to actually gloat. Almost. It might have helped her, did he not know exactly how long she'd had to plan this - from a previous and bitter-ended visit - and it couldn't hurt her to pick up a piece of jewellery that he'd actually seen in his life; a humour told him that she truly believed _one of the women_ though. With a yoke-chest so low that her collar was not the only thing revealed, though he didn't even have to have looked at her to assume. It was in so many ways refined - in that she carried herself, almost like a woman as she walked, that he'd like to inform her that the only, single, woman who might honestly cause any arousal, was a Goddess apparently, and a clumsy child as much as that, so she might have to work on it a little. But he remained silent. And Elyon remained impatient.

She bit her lip, before she dropped the silly jewel and turned away once more. Pacing - if not in this prison, then in her mind. It couldn't have been a few weeks, maybe a month, and she was here for the third time, just to flaunt something she was too naive to know fake. Someone was getting cocky, though the Prince knew himself to be damned if he could figure quickly which of them it was. "She wanted me to wear it. Trill. S-she wanted me to wear it, because our mother would want it."

He highly doubted that, drawling cooly, "Our mother would want you to be less of an inbreed."

He'd done it there. The little _Aldarn_ stepping forward, because boy didn't know his own place; not that his Queen knew it either. Another guard dragging his shoulder back, because the poor boy didn't know when to stop. For Queen and for country, he supposed it might've been nobility, except that the boy spoke more names than a spy would to him, and he knew by well that Caleb had only found his way out of bed that very morning. Phobos smirked. At least someone knew what an error they'd made in such a Queen. Such a Queen with such a petulant scowl. Prince Phobos nodded his head in the faintest of bows. "Apologies."

"I should hope so."

"I'm sure that you are wrong though." It was a tragic looking stone; a droplet of colour with a gold chain, though he couldn't deny that his mother might admire it's simplicity. Whatever it was for, Queen Elyon would not be listening to his word, but at the very least he'd have a clear conscience. "That's not our mother's."

"No." No? Phobos held a smile as the young Queen stood tall.. What a close proximity she took, also; Prince Phobos could almost smell the rotten stench of her. "It was _my _mother's."

"Whatever you say.." He sighed as he spoke and she tried to sneer, but at her close proximity he caught her with a mere raising brow. Prince Phobos might've chosen prison sooner, had he known he would have such an entertainment.. "Don't say that I didn't warn you.."

**...**

"..You know, this happened months ago, why the sudden interest?" Tom Lair frowned slightly, at the image being held in front of him, of his daughter and the five other girls; an Agent McTiennan's finger pressing above his own daughter's face to point at Elyon Brown. It was a funny case; the Browns', and he supposed that they'd thought nothing was being done, but in truth he felt the same. It had been a lost case, as far as he'd assumed - months had gone by since it had been handed over officially to missing persons, and he'd assumed that that would be it. He had been glad that Irma didn't ask questions, but questions were arising now; the man having had inquired his own daughter's friendship. It was neither a sign to good or bad, but he couldn't help taking offence, his frown only creasing as the man pocketed the photograph he'd brought out.

"There are developments in the Brown case, requiring that we return for a more _thorough_ inspection." He frowned at that, realizing now exactly why only one of his force had been called. An insult, really, to infer that they had missed something, but Tom only bit his tongue. It wasn't unnatural - for city inspectors to assume a higher ground, and he only cocked a brow slightly, in concerns of the developments. "The Browns do not exist."

"-We have records that-"

"-have been further examined by experts. We are well informed, Agent Lair, and the records are false." Tom frowned as the woman behind him continued to shuffle through items methodically - a Maria Medina, who turned from her work after interrupting him, and Mr Lair had decided in that moment he would regret agreeing to the case. "Now it's more about finding them, than considering what exactly happened. We need to check again, I hope you understand, because this is now an entirely new case."


	2. Chapter 2

Originally the last passage was the first, but I changed my mind and swivelled last minute.. I think it works.

* * *

><p>Irritation filled Luba to the extent that she shook, but the Oracle only felt her as a passing as he tilted his head in precision that aeons had brought him. Trouble had stirred, and the Oracle had not foreseen, but perhaps only a small trouble to be handled. He had long ignored the cries of the indebted Queen of Meridian; a child who had been destined air to the throne, a long and undisturbed reign. His placidity remained in her favour - it would be no threat, for Elyon Escanor to wipe her slate. Though perhaps in another time the memories of the inquisitors might have lost her image completely. No. She would easily tame them. "O-oracle."<p>

The Oracle waved his hand, however, to Bolgo. There was something beyond himself, that the Oracle and Kandrakar could not see, and perhaps for only the second time - though time would be an awful word to use - time had been paralysed. And so he sent the elfin man away, and his lidded eyes remained cooly closed: he must have been listening to Quintessence from the moment that time had restarted, but there was a disturbance; something was holding him away. Preventing his sight to her, almost undoubtedly whence alone, though on the rare occasions that she slept, the tears rolled down her cheeks and the wails filled Kandrakar.

A mistake.

Anxiety grew from such wailing, if only for that the Oracle had predicted her death. He had denied any claim that he was wrong, and yet the boy had changed her fates. Not that the congregation had seen such a thing, as it was beyond himself to contain them. And how was he to hear her if they were murmuring! There was something beyond him. Something that the Oracle had found he could not touch.

And it was not Will. Nor the Quintessence boy, though only his actions revealed his function. He had left her, and every day Will Vandom grew weaker. Sicker. Though feeble was uncharacteristic; she would lash out.

Soulmates were an ugly thing.

**...**

"I had a dream about her. When I was sleeping last night." Julian's eyes shot up, focusing instantly on Caleb's fingers; coarsely laced through his unruly hair, which well needed cut, but he wouldn't say anything. He hadn't been seen in weeks - not, at least, by anyone other than Aldarn, and the frequently visiting Earth Guardian. But he'd sent his apologies to the Queen, and Julian warily opened his mouth, though it snapped shut when Drake's voice loudly filled the room.

"You do it often?" His sharp eyes - which had flashed to Drake - slipped back over the shaking head, and it could be said that Caleb was only tired. He leaned his elbows against the table, and his head against those elbows, and just his movement was enough to infect Julian with morose uncertainty. He knew what Caleb had said. He knew what Caleb had thought of doing. After Caleb had not shown up to Drake's wedding, they knew what he'd done. A glass neatly slid across the table. "It's been pánta."

"Eísai ypervo-" The glass smashed and Caleb jumped; his arm having had misread the distance, and he'd ended up reaching too quickly so that the water now covered the floor beside him. And he only stared, as though he was lost already. "I hate it here."

"You've not _been _here."

"Agóri mou!" It was nothing, but disheartening that Caleb stood. That there was almost a something; if only a recognition, though Julian swore nearly a smile. When Julian had been thankful for Caleb not to leave.

"Ton Aketon, páo píso sto kreváti.. I- I don't feel well." But Caleb didn't move after all, and a heavy kiss was planted on his forehead, before Aketon ragged at his thick hair and mentioned something of a haircut. And then little conversation got through, but Julian had listened long enough to know that, "I.. I want douleiá... I can't sleep anymore."

**...**

January had ended, and the chills were retreating with every day; Heatherfield had never been able to hold onto the snowy weather past February, and this year was no different as cool air seeped in along with the smell of rain, clasping desperately into the warmth of her bedroom as Hay Lin pushed closed the window. "Hey, Dad! I'll be back after school!"

"Hay Lin!" Hay Lin's smile fell slightly, though she was still beaming when she turned to her grandmother. Even despite knowing what her gandma was to ask of her. "You remember."

"I wont forget." Her grandma's soft hand cupped her cheek, and Hay Lin's smile grew of fondness, though she could count the lines of age for every day that Will would not speak to Yan Lin. And Will was only partially to blame though; because Hay Lin had stopped passing messages.

It wasn't as though Will would listen anyway. "Tell her today, Hay Lin. Tell her.. I haven't thanked her for your safe return yet."

"Grandma.." Any hesitation, and the slightest squirm would be recognised as embarrassment, but Hay Lin knew better than her grandmother would not have thanked even Caleb - not if he'd risked his own life to save her. Her Grandmother prayed in the night time.

She prayed for Will's heart.

Everyone seemed to be praying for Will's heart.

"Hay Lin.."

"Grandma, I wont forget!"

* * *

><p>Eísai ypervolí - You're exaggerating. (Drake had said "It's been forever")<p>

Agóri mou - My boy!

Ton Aketon, páo píso sto kreváti.. I- I don't feel well. - (respectfully) Aketon, I'm going back to bed.. I- I don't feel well.

I want douleiá- I want a job (distraction)


	3. Chapter 3

I really do have to apologize - I really did plan to get this up earlier, but the Ramones plus cola, plus me finally finding my Christmas spirit (it was in a present that I'm rather curious of, and can't open until the 25th.. I think it's that 'customized' loo roll, and that really does show what I expect of my gifts :L :L) equals getting around to writing at about 1am. :P

* * *

><p>Aldarn flinched, when Elyon had thrown the bluish jewel to slide along the floor, but she only scowled bitterly as her eyes stung against her will. She could feel his eyes on her, though Aldarn only itched to leave and Elyon felt her chest rising and falling rebelliously as her own brother got the better of her. He was always so..<em>eloquent<em>. Doused in his own dignity, and it had taken her all of eight seconds - after having had again decided that he was no longer in control - for Elyon to realize that the bars only seemed to form a private joke that she wasn't in on. And she knew that it was her own fault. Elyon eyed the limply pathetic, ugly jewel as it continued to roll; only very slightly, with the last of the momentum causing it to sway less than an millimetre back and forth until it finally gave up and the tiny sound that it's movement made was left in silence, before Elyon's entire body tensed and she made a noise of frustration, her eyes scrunched closed so that she could pretend Aldarn wasn't watching her make a fool out of herself. "I HATE HIM!"

"I... Yeah." He drew his eyes away after one look, but she didn't miss the slightest grimace, because Drake had slipped away and Elyon had a feeling that Caleb had told the boy to keep eyes on her at all times, and Elyon pursed her lips in a pout; striding to and picking up the jewel. Because the woman had given it to her, and it was her mothers. And that was why she was wearing it, or so she might like the boy to think because she was obviously far too regal to be wearing it in hopes of irking anyone else. Not that Phobos would ever react, even to the fact that Elyon had taken to acclaiming herself rights to his- their mother's room.. And yet.. Something about a moan reverberating around a ballroom prevented her from actually saying it. Even when she'd apprized him, she had managed to fear him in an equal quietness. Though it would seem that he'd known everything.

"..Just.. Go." Elyon lifelessly waved the boy away, but knew he hadn't moved as she pulled a cool golden chain around her neck, wondering if she might asphyxiate herself if she pulled hard enough. Not that he'd care. And God only knew how much of a witch Caleb had told everyone she was.. She thought about him often; pulling her up next to the throne, and simply looking glad that she was alright. And then Miranda had screamed when they were taking her away and he had disappeared once Elyon had ruled away his attempt to side _with _her. And now he was awake, back from whatever mourning he had been doing. She had thought that he was sulking, but he had lost his love that day. Aldarn had looked up when a snort of humour was released despite herself; dryly, because it had turned out that Will was every much the minx Elyon'd thought she was. And yet, she knew all about Caleb now, so perhaps she had really ought to feel sorry for the redhead.

Elyon had thought that Phobos might've been thankful; no-one was sure if the murmurers were alive, and no-one really thought that anyone except maybe Caleb could make the decision. Elyon wasn't sure if she believed it. But then one of the first thing Prince Phobos had inquired of was his murmur boy. And Elyon knew that Caleb would not be allowed near Phobos. She didn't want to lock him up.

"You heard me, Aldarn. JUST GO!"

**...**

Taranee had never been one for the food Sheffield Institute supplied on a daily basis, but it had been only recently - perhaps a month or so - that she'd in fact discovered that it did _nothing _to help, to have Matt Olsen's mouth pressing readily against Will Vandom's neck. "Okay, Will. That's disgusting."

Her own lips pressed firmly together at that; a tight line that wavered with mirth, though Will never seemed to have time for seeing the humour in things anymore, and Taranee's most thoughtful contemplation was that she looked like Cornelia as brown eyes only flitted loathsomely to Irma, though Taranee was always sure that there was still a slither of Will in that the redhead did, once the brunette's gaze was elsewhere, squirm from Matt's grip with the same slightly tense discomfort that she'd had when he'd originally drawn his hand lazily around her waist. Under the table, where no one could see, but Taranee had been sitting and watching Will pretend she liked him back for weeks. And no one wanted to say anything.

It was the only time that Will didn't seem quite so irritated by their presence; they were simply a meagre inconvenience, and besides, Will had stopped tensing around them quite so much since Joel had taken as well to Irma. And Cornelia.. Well, Cornelia only frowned, silently watching as Will wrapped her own arm behind herself; fully extracting from the boy's arm as she would - as if by habit - knit her fingers through his own and pull their hands between them. It might've been sad, at one time, to watch Will's unsurety and yet indignant attitude to the world around her now, and she was sure that the girl was due for another detention around this time - something about spitting in a teacher's face - Will was due expulsion, surely, though Taranee knew for a fact that Tom Lair had been spotted, and she wondered if he might be calling in Will's favour. Everyone was sure Will had stepped out in front of that bus hoping to get hit, but Taranee knew Will Vandom too well not to have seen the shock behind her indifference, and whatever the excuse the redhead had given had been a lie. Taranee wondered if Will's mind had been on Caleb. It had only been a week from seeing him then, and sometimes Taranee wondered how Will had known he wasn't coming back. She'd easily been with Matt before the seventh day, after all. Either way, there was something, and Will seemed to be stuck behind it. Perhaps an attitude problem, so recently developed.

Perhaps an inability to give Hay Lin more than a repugnant stare of disdain as the spirited girl clumsily jittered into her seat across from the girl; a high-pitched greeting followed instantly by some twitter of Yan Lin to Will, "..and she really says she wants to, um, see you, you know.. She hasn't seen you since, well, since Cale- in fact, I don't even think she saw you then, and I... We got rid of the high-cot."

The last sentence had been directed at everyone but, and Taranee knew that nerves had over-ruled any necessity that Will see Yan Lin, because Will didn't glare, or glower, or even look gloatingly at Hay Lin, and Taranee herself couldn't deny having had faltered under _the stare_. It might be something to do with the jaundice; the yellowish tint in Will's skin. Or perhaps the dark circles under disconcerned eyes, or maybe the constant tapping. Taranee, and thus Hay Lin couldn't see the hand, but everyone had started noticing the way her fingers twitched slightly when she got like this. But Taranee knew better, that _this _was simply the fact that sometimes it didn't even look like Will was listening. Sometimes it was like she was listening to something else. And sometimes Will got barely a demerit, even if she'd nearly broken Uriah Dunn's nose with that swing. It was funny, too. Because she'd been _staring _at Matt before she'd done it.

It was like Will was getting directions (who was where, where was what).. From someone else. "Look, Hay Lin, tell your Grandma she can-"


	4. Chapter 4

It had never been Miranda's intention to leave, in the way that she did, but there was too much trust in Elyon's prison: trust that no one would have come again to help her. She didn't exactly know the stories of the other men; sandpit and a gargoyle who's lost hand had been replaced by that of stone. Raythor was with her. Perhaps it ought to be less comforting, for the man she knew had been dead, though now she knew his story. One of a treacherous Vathek and the key to the Oubliette - a story in which he seemed to forget that it was Phobos who'd thrown him into the Abyss. Using Cedric's hands.

He had climbed his shadowy fate for near a fortnight, and longed for Vathek's blood on his hands. And now he longed for Cedric's, leaving Miranda without a bloodlust, because they had been rounded up in rebellion, though Miranda hadn't much felt like killing anyone anyway. Prince Phobos knew - with his beady eyes, and no one in the prisons were going to mention the witch who'd come to save her; least the guard that had been promised forgetfulness the moment Nerissa had looked into his eyes. "You remember.."

"I wont forget." Her hands were thinner, more gripping than Miranda could expect, as the woman - with darker hair and she seemed to grow in youth, rather than age - smiled over her shoulder, with the dog-man snarling at her; hungry. But Nerissa had promised that it wouldn't eat her, because that was an it and not a he. Forged. Miranda could tell. Made for the fear of a guardian girl, that Miranda was sure she recalled Phobos watching over, less violently than Nerissa watched now. "I wont forget."

"Perfect, Miranda." The portal had been there forever now. For three days, and it led to Earth apparently. A portal also led to Nerissa, she supposed, but Miranda truly had no interest in the witch's origin. She had a job to do now, and there was no option of being sent back to the prisons. Miranda had reacted in rash foolishness, but she had seen the scalding repentance that Nerissa was willing to cause. If Will Vandom was being given the privilege to live, Miranda wanted no notion of the punishment, death.

**...**

Cornelia Hale could not release the tension in her glare, even for Matt Olsen's sake, as Will's russet eyes blankly returned her gesture. Nerissa had never seen anything quite as spectacular, though she could merely smirk at Will's pounding little heart as blood filled her ears over what had barely been insulting. Miranda departed as quietly as she had initially arrived and had spent all her time in between, but Nerissa was no judge. "_Jeeze Will, can't you_ _just go! What, scared of Yan Lin?_"

But there would be no reply, as it had become Will's biggest bowing gesture; she was listening, for a response. Expecting Nerissa. And how Nerissa liked to please, "Get up, you silly little waif."

And there was only the slightest hesitation before Will did.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been forty-three days, and no one else seemed to even know it. Not since the battle, but since Caleb had closed the door and were it not for his own insanity he might never have opened it again. The cardinal sin had been committed, before Caleb had outdone even that with himself. He had been right. All those months ago. Prince Phobos ought to be dead, and Caleb meant all of him. It was a fool's fate, which Caleb had found himself living, because Phobos had even said it; had promised on more than one occasion that Caleb would bow, and Caleb was letting himself be the fool. He had been naive.. He had _been _judgemental.. And Caleb had been twisting his own perversion of life like a wet towel which was now dry. "I don't want to live anymore."

But no one was listening. Caleb was simply standing in front of a mirror in royal blue and far too much money, knowing full well that Will had known what she was doing, and now he was far too much of a coward to let Aldarn find him hanging from a rope. He had yelled at Will for it, and she wasn't even stupid enough to have done it. No, that wasn't what he meant, for Caleb found no desire, but merely a duty, in dying. It wasn't even life that was the problem. He didn't know what.. Caleb couldn't seem to find in his mind, the boundaries of which he had stopped caring for Will and had started _caring _for her, because he'd had forty-three days to realize that Will had spent the last eight weeks screaming.

And he hadn't even thought about it. He hadn't _done _anything. He had been far too busy thinking about nothing and himself, because he was an idiot. Aldarn had been right, and Caleb knew more throughly than even his own name that he had liked her from the beginning, but now he was only to spend his days behind a little girl he'd called a witch, plagued by her in the night. He was being told to move on. No one dared say it.

Cornelia wanted him to go home.

Aldarn tried not to say that he didn't want Caleb to.

And everyone else actually knew enough to have an opinion, which not one of them dared to say. Drake would say it first. Would have. But now Caleb had something, and he wanted nothing less than to lead the royal guard. He wanted to go home.

**...**

Agent Maria Medina had spent the better part of the day picking up photographs and the like, and Thomas Lair had not silenced quiet words of opinion until she had pointed to the blatant fact that the bed was now unmade. It had not been before, according to the first search. There were inconsistencies, and Agent Joel McTiennan knew that it could not be coincidence that the identities of a family were seemingly forged, though there was more than their newest, third member knew.

That the birth record sheets and the likes in City Hall of Heatherfield had been corrupted, in that the possibilities of concerns could have been more pressing than simple fraud. That the state of the bed and the room confirmed such possibilities. That there was a question of why the _'Brown'_s would have ran.. When no one had been chasing them.

Abduction was thought to be a simple thing, of kidnapping and the follows of that. But this was a professional job, if someone was trying to fake three people's non-existence. Why would they have ran? The fact was, that nothing would suggest that they would have.

**...**

"A test?" Dean Collins frowned as the scruffy redhead wiped a hand past the dark bags beneath her eyes, and he sighed at the already mournful look on her face as he wondered how long it must have been that Will Vandom had been here; an impression indented if only because he had never seen someone fall so hard. It was getting harder, for Professor Collins to ignore the thinner, paler girl, but there didn't seem to be any leeway - there seemed not to be a day that Susan would recite that the girl hadn't been screaming. And he knew for a fact, that Susan Vandom herself was finding ties and considering a second move, because it was getting harder not to be touchy about replying that life wasn't fair, and Collin's could easily see reason for worry, as the girl scowled into her rough school bag. "Oh, great, that just what I need, I didn't even study."

"I bet." Dean forced sheets of papers onto each desk; rustling through empty conversations and pushing past the guilt of warily eyeing Uriah Dunn, as fierce brown eyes shot to the lanky troublemaker, grinning presumptively. There were many boy that Dean had known to cause a riot, but the boy - who had been caught attempting to hot-wire Judge Cook's car two weeks ago _before _his latest visit as of following petty thievery - was the more worrying of them and Uriah at late seventeen, Collin's wondered if the boy's mother could have been less of a role model. "You were probably busy, _riight_?"

There was silence, then, and Collin's realized he had been staring when a student feebly tugged the paper from his hands and he had only stopped listening - had only looked away for a second. "YOU ASSHOLE!"

"Shit! Get her off of me!"


	6. Chapter 6

"You can't do this." Silence followed, as it always did around Cornelia; at least when Will was present. Because that -without fail- meant she was talking _to _Will. "You can _not _just do whatever the hell you want."

"Those are a lot of words coming from you, Mrs Meridian." Deep blue eyes flashed over Will, and Irma couldn't help wondering when exactly the brittle girl's sarcasm had truly become as flat, but there were no answers in muddy brown eyes; where emotions used to be. Will was merely radiating the gentle aggravation that seemed to follow her and fill the lungs of anyone who'd dare to gaze at the figure.. Irma wondered if Will might be drowning the way that everyone else did. There was no sympathy, and maybe Will had become so skilled in her empathy that she could push _herself_ away.

"No. That is a lot coming from you!" An eyebrow quirked boredly at Cornelia, while Irma's eyes swept over the tired frame. Cornelia was only worried, and Irma knew that even if Cornelia didn't - Will had spent three days and a weekend off, and then by the time the girl had had Christmas alone, Will was whatever _this _was meant to be. But with every day, Cornelia became a little less sympathetic, and the blonde probably didn't even realize that she was probably making it worse; shutting Will out. Cornelia was a nice person, but she didn't like getting things wrong. She'd finally let herself make Will important to her, and this had happened to prove her wrong all over again. Irma knew Cornelia. And what frustrated Irma more than anything.. What frustrated everyone.. _No one _had seen it coming. "I am not the same person, Will, but you know what! No one is! At least we're all a little better for it! You're just being some stuck up, nosy bitch, who's so insecure since Caleb left, that you have to make yourself feel better by pulling us down into the dirt with you!"

She couldn't breathe. Irma felt her throat close at his mention and there was no joke nor comment. Caleb was off limits, and it had been Cornelia who'd first remained silent at his mention every time - who would never say a word to reveal after visits to Elyon. But Will's void features only took their time to warp into a flicker of something, then a smile. And Irma clutched at Hay Lin's hand and Cornelia paled. "Is that a joke?"

"At least he's upset.. And he misses us, Will!" It must have been the first Irma had heard of it, and the brunette bit her tongue. Because she glanced left and met the ever-silent Taranee's eyes, before changing focus and Hay Lin had soaked up the words. "Don't you miss us?"

"I miss.." It was the first thing that sparked honesty from Will, though the unsurety would never last and Will's flicker of _something _was gone again before Irma had a chance to see it. There couldn't possibly be honesty in such a statement. "I miss being alone."

"I hate you."

**...**

"Caleb.." Elyon forced a solid smile to her face, when the young man's eyes registered her and Elyon could feel Aldarn's anticipation to see the boy again. She hated her mind, for criticizing that he'd merely bowed his head. Not that Caleb wouldn't already know. It was probably why he had asked, and certainly why she had already had the job ready and waiting. It wasn't like she couldn't watch the boy from a distance, but perhaps if she knew that he was watching her too. She had found him, flat-palming a door that must never be opened, and she merely nodded because the murmurers were still in there. Little scraps of His corruption; Elyon hadn't much got rid of anything of Phobos'. Caleb was here. The murmurers were here. His books and the gardens of black roses. If anyone asked, she wasn't ready yet. Not that she ever would be. "You'll make me look common, you know. Looking like that."

A nasal breath of him noticing the humour, but Elyon knew that it wasn't what he was wearing. The royal blue of his jacket and the gold did nothing much for him, but he was if anything more handsome - he looked ready to jump into a picture book as prince charming and Elyon hated that everything related to Phobos was beautiful except from her. "I.."

She'd jumped a little then, and for a moment she'd thought he'd collapsed; her eyes now resting on the figure bent over one knee he was resting on. And suddenly the criticism of wishing he'd bow became a stronger wish that he wouldn't.

"I'm- I apologise for my absence. Gia to thánato gia to Fos."

Guilt eroded and Elyon wondered how she might ever get rid of him.

* * *

><p>Gia to thánato gia to Fos - To the death for the Light<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

It was little, but often that it happened, and Nerissa frowned as the child's fist pushed fitfully past her reddened eyelids and it was almost definitely the blonde who always did it. Privately, Nerissa knew well that it would only help her, but there was no sense of accomplishment in knowing that Cornelia Hale had wanted to hurt her. No, no. It was much more achieving to see the girl stomp on Will's face accidentally. "_Just go away_."

"Didn't you want me?" Nerissa cooed out gently, with a narcissistic smirk growing as the pouting face quivered and Will shook her head. Now this was something that would happen on few occasions, but Nerissa had suspected it was coming the moment Will had spoken without her. Silence reigned and Nerissa ignored hatred of the blonde giving Will a reason to be strong again. "Will..?"

"I-I want to be alone.. I- Just for.." Not that Will had been strong in the first place. The baby merely floundered in her own self mutilation of Rights. "I didn't mean.. I.."

It was interesting, to see a little girl wince, and Nerissa only watched the tears rolling down her cheeks. It was interesting, to see a little girl wince, because Will didn't even know whether she was more lonely or desperate for people. It had to help, though, that Cornelia had said 'I hate you'.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/**

_"Caleb__.. Sweety..?"_

_It was more an informality of Cornelia's affectionate maternal nature, than the initial fancy that she had taken to Caleb that inspired her to say such things. Perhaps fused with the fact that Caleb looked a hundred times worse whenever she saw him. At least he'd stopped locking the door, but then no one bothered trying to come in anymore. "Can you please go away."_

_"Oh, Caleb.." He'd slid away from the large, richly dressed bed and Cornelia passed the boy sitting against the frame, to pull the sheet away because Caleb wouldn't let anyone else do it. And it was funny, that once a week Cornelia used to scowl at her father for dare suggesting she do it herself, and now it had become habit to change two beds a week and she never let herself complain. 'You know.. I know you can do this yourself..' One of the pillows lay bare where he'd thrown her out before she could finish. Caleb didn't care whether his bed got done, or whether he was clean, but Cornelia appreciated that he'd apparently started using his en suite._

_ He'd sat with his legs stretched out across the floor and his head lulling on the mattress slightly, so that she had to work around him, because the boy was never moving.. But then he did and Cornelia felt her body freeze like a deer in the headlights, because he'd never actually moved for her. She reminded herself to breathe when his emerald eyes met hers and bashfully flashed away; embarrassed of a thousand, million things, and Cornelia forced herself to stare at velvety fabrics because it had to be a good thing that he was helping. Maybe he just knew what she was there for - he'd certainly remembered, she thought, because she'd quickly ignored that his cheeks were soaked when she'd initially walked into the dark room._

_"You...missed Will's birthday."_

_"..I didn't have anything for her anyway."_

_"Caleb." She ceased movement, for long seconds, and she could hear that his movements became faster, as he tried to ignore himself and she wondered if she could tell him. That Will wasn't Will anyway, and that maybe he should move on. It was a stupid thought; he'd been in here four weeks. "She..might like to see you."_

_"She doesn't."_

_"But she might." She bit her tongue then, when a stubborn glared caught her and she knew it was a miracle that he was restraining from throwing her out of the window, nevermind the door. No one bothered to hide anything. Everyone in the castle knew why Caleb was in here.. And yet there seemed to be something more at the same time; like, why had Will and Caleb ever stopped. Aldarn didn't know, but Drake did. It was in his eyes and the scowl of her revealing that she wanted him back on Earth. Cornelia sighed and knew that she'd worn her card; drawing the only other she thought might have a chance. "Hay Lin might like to see you."_

_"Get out."_

_"But Caleb.."_

_"Cornelia."_

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/**

Cornelia couldn't honestly be sure, when exactly she had fallen in love, but she was well aware that it did her no good to think of him. It was a funny thing; how Cornelia had found herself so attached to Caleb, because she'd have never felt so much for him were he not in love with Will.

Maybe it was petty, and Cornelia knew that perhaps love was a strong word - she was only fifteen and Caleb felt far more strongly, but there was not a thing she wouldn't do for him. The only problem, that Taranee Cook found with this picture, was that she was not Cornelia and Cornelia had not told her these things, and suddenly - slumped over the thick volume of her science textbook - Taranee felt ill enough to throw up. And she wished that whatever had just happened would reverse so that she didn't know what she did.

Cornelia was meant to be dating her brother.


	8. Chapter 8

"..had previously agree'd to keep their herd to the _South _of East Noberre township to avoid any confusion!" Caleb frowned, as his eyes caught Blunk sneaking by, but _Queen _Elyon giggled and he smirked at her, wondering when it would be that he'd finally be distracted. He'd gone back, this time. He'd had more than a month, to close his eyes and remember things that he had seen before he'd really been _'seeing'_. It was the only thing that he could think of that wasn't Will and sometimes it was better, sometimes it was worse. His gaze lifted when a man he didn't recognize cleared his throat noisily and Caleb knew that Aldarn wasn't happy in that he'd been sent off. Caleb wasn't much happy either, but more in the way that the man had grinned sheepishly and told him that it was an honor.

Apparently he was a hero now. _"No! Get away from me!"_

_"Will.."_ He could feel the temperature rising and falling simultaneously, as he recalled the way a familiar smile he'd craved had fallen and his state of dreaming had taken a turn for the worst, but Elyon sat straight and Caleb swallowed uneasily.

"..to avoid any confusion."

"Thank you!" It was hard to breathe and Caleb pushed unruly hair back from his face, and knew that he didn't have a ground to be mad at Julian now. He didn't have a right to be mad at Aldarn, or Drake, or anyone. But he'd made a mistake. He didn't like it here after all. His penance surely ought to be more punishing, than Aketon kissing his head and every stranger suddenly knowing him and thinking some great hero of him. He'd liked it better when he'd been dirt. Even if he didn't _like_ it, he'd liked it _b__etter _than this. "I'll give your concerns further thought."

**...**

"Irma.." It was the first time in Irma's recent memory, that she had consciously decided to pull out her textbook, _without _anyone 'helping her' (by force not limited from her father pretending to threaten with his gun). And now she was being disturbed. It wasn't as though Irma minded, though there was a certain annoyance in her father's timing - which vanished at the sight of his reproachful features. "Can I talk to you?"

"S-sure dad.." She hadn't much talked to her father, not properly, since 'W.i.t.c.h.' had started. She missed it really; missed her father, and she missed holding his hand even though she was way too old, and she missed spending his nights off sprawled in front of the sofa, because he was a good dad really. And he deserved a better daughter - or at least, he deserved less trouble from a good one, because he didn't know where she was. "What's up?"

He'd sat down across from her, and Irma swallowed at the look on his face, which was frowning slightly as he tried to mould what he wanted to say in his head. "Irma.. Do you ever miss Elyon..?"

"Elyon?" Of all the things Thomas Lair could have said, this was not what she'd have expected; if only because he hadn't even asked when there had been a brief missing persons case built around them. He wasn't that guy - almost ironically, seen as it was basically his job to ask questions. "Oh, well yeah, and.. Well.. I mean she's.."

It was hard to look, at his big, soft eyes and she hated that her father managed to look like this, and yet with the same blue she could never achieve something so flattening - for an old man, his anxious nature was adorable and she always found that it was his best strategy when she'd done something wrong. She hadn't done anything wrong.

"What does it matter! She's just on vacation- A really long vacation!" She'd gone too far, but her mouth wouldn't stop and he'd cocked one of his eyebrows and- Was she _still _talking? She was still talking! _No! Go pick on Chris! Pick on Chris! Pick on Chris!_ "-in Bora Bora!"

"Who told you that?"

"Um, Will..? ..heh.." _No! I said Chris! Chris! Chris!_ Irma scrunched her nose slightly - decidedly concentrating on her inner monologue, if only to slow and even stop the rebellious rambling which was slowly digging her deeper into a hole.. _PICK ON CHRIS._ "But, I mean-"

He sighed then, and shook his head, standing to leave. "Look, we can talk about this later. Right now I need to have a word with Chris."

Had she just..?

**...**

"Ruling, _so _does not rule."

Elyon ignored the nasal tone to her own voice, and tried to recall a time that words would've come out naturally. It didn't really matter, that Caleb wouldn't believe it, but a part of Elyon wished that clinging to the now foreign way of speaking would make her forget. Sometimes she wished that someone would notice. That someone would say something, but at the same time she'd never let them take the crown from her. And the guard to her left raised and eyebrow while on her right green eyes stared out somewhere else, a dry tone following.. "You mean you don't find land disputes fascinating?"

"Give Blunk land! Dispute settled!" Even Caleb's eyes had flashed over the toad which always smelled slightly out-of-date, and the boy's lips had twitched in a way that Elyon couldn't understand where his affection for the 'passling' came from. All of Phobos' allies had been beautiful creatures, or at least the ones that he'd actually associated himself with.. It was good, that Caleb had smirked though. She knew what he'd done to Will.. Elyon blinked a few times, before smiling too broadly.

"I realized.. Somewhere between West Noberre and East _Nowhere _it came to me. I miss the _princess _part of being Queen!" Elyon knew that Caleb had startled then, and he was related, she supposed, in a way that made him instantly recognize that she'd spent her princess-ship with her brother, but maybe it would at least make him feel better to know that he was still better than _someone_. "What happened to my massive balls? Where's my prince charming?"

Elyon stopped, and her smile fell as she saw Caleb biting back some retort of prison. She knew why he was doing it - he was much too nice and she wondered if maybe he knew how unalike Phobos he was in that Caleb couldn't even bring it in himself to condemn her. It was a flaw, and sometimes Elyon found herself stuck; thinking of how she had in reality been prepared to give the _'Light'_ freely, and how she sometimes wish that Phobos had come to rule.. Phobos knew it, she was sure. Caleb didn't need to know though.

"I wanted a castle on a cloud! Instead I got..."

"The royal architect with his plan for sewage construction."


	9. Chapter 9

Susan Vandom felt the cool breeze that had been let in an open window that she'd left in her bedroom, and her eyes had adjusted by now to the darkness of such an early hour, as she leaned an aching back against a stable door frame which never complained of her weight. If she was ever to leave in the night, there would be no way for Susan to know, because the floor itself could not detect the signal to creak in Will's now hollowly presence. There was always the smell of dust, and Susan had emptied her daughter's room twice in the past weeks in attempt to erase it, but the disinfectant scent couldn't purge the uneasy feeling in her stomach; if at anything, the fact that there had been no complaint, and Will had only watched her room being rooted through with a brassy tone to her eyes of indifference. There had been something beautiful, which portrayed something magical of Will, and the girl had silently complained then - the carving slipping from Susan's fingers, and there was no word spoken as the door closed behind her, but a splinted heap lay deceased on the side walk below Will's bedroom... Then Susan had started finding it harder to sleep at night.

So she'd locked that window, and Will wasn't allowed to open it - not that Will asked. Not that Will asked for anything.

And then had come the walking. That was when she'd realized that the floor didn't respond to Will's footsteps against it, as if to shell as a constant remind of the fact that Will hadn't much liked any cooking Susan had done, but Will had eaten it. Whispers of air, that must have been her daughter's breath, and she'd only felt the chill until the fridge had opened, and Susan had given in to go looking. Thinking that some stranger might be in her house. She wasn't wrong. "I know you're watching me."

Susan swallowed at the hoarse voice, that rang clear in contrast to the sounds of some breeze breathing. It wasn't even as though Will was looking, but Susan blinked back a gentle sting to her eyes and a smile brushed peacefully; probably creating the image of a perfect mother, because Will would have to get up anyway. Her own voice was just as soft, though, because it was hard not to imitate such a loud girl, so quiet. It was hard not to let Will do what she wanted, because until Will was out of this house, Will Vandom was a mouse; a dimly made shadow. "Will, it's time for school."

It felt like someone had died. But just to prove her wrong, Will slid up and fumbled into a drawer, where everything lay tidily now, because Will was contented in sitting. She didn't _need _things. "I'm going to walk."

"Sure.. Will.." There was a reproachful moment, where Susan had often before inched forward to caress affectionate words of her love into her daughter, but something in the wind always made her step back, and she knotted finger around the door frame. "..Don't be late."

**...**

It had become apparent, when Taranee had attempted conversation that might be more in depth than a simple hello, that Nigel Ashcroft happened to live above Will on weekends and off days. His father had moved there, once his parents had split, and he'd mistaken the floor all those months ago. He'd assumed the bottom floor to be 'one'.

In all cases, the long shot had been bounced off course, the moment that her mother had driven up and forcefully removed her from the scene, but once every few mornings she'd smile as he passed, because she'd decided to meet Will on a day he'd stayed above. Today was one of the days, apparently, and her lips refused her inner plea not to curve into a glimmer of a smile at the corners - though, that might've been more to do with the fact that all thoughts had ceased, the moment a barely tanned hand had raised, and his fingers curled in a wave for which she was glad to know must have been for her. No one else was here. And she might wave some days, back, or grin others because sometimes he was just goofy and today she nodded in a small gesture, because her fingers had nodded around the straps of her woven ethnic backpack. "I thought you weren't walking with me anymore."

"Well, I thought I'd surprise you." Taranee tried not to regret, that Will had brought her to turn around, and forced a lazy grin over her dimly glowing cheeks. Not that Will would care, because Will only frowned at the light-hearted reply to what Taranee had supposed meant to sound threatening. It might have, to anyone else, but Will was only tired today - it was in the fact that Will's skin was doing a better job at being white than paper, and it was in the slightly throatiness in Will's dry tone. She didn't really walk this way for Will anyway, anymore. She wasn't going to deny it, and Will most certainly knew it. "I might as well walk _with _you."

The gaze was like steel, but Taranee refused to be afraid of Will this morning. Will had already ruined her day, and she was not going to scare her. Not when her mind rattled throughout the night with thoughts and images of Caleb, constantly in a state in Cornelia's mind. "You go ahead. I forgot something."


	10. Chapter 10

Irma Lair's frown deepened, and she sank lower in her chair as her father's eyes rested grimly on her, because on few occasions did they turn against one another, really, and now he had betrayed them all; Will thrashing her shoulder from his guiding hand. "Agents Medina and McTiennan just want to ask some questions, following Elyon Brown's case, and-"

The door shut at that point, and Irma frowned at the dark wood leading to the principle's office. There was no good, in the fact that Will had been waited for first, and there was no good in that Will barely even knew Elyon. And then of course, there had to be something, if Elyon's case was still running and Irma's mind whirred ferociously; the frown on _McTiennan_'s face when she'd alerted the girls to make the agent read their rights. It might've seemed like a joke, but at some point sheer sarcasm had turned into dread, because they had been looking for a sketchbook. After the crime scene had been set, and Will had probably left more evidence than anyone there, and- "Oh God."

Her hand slapped over her mouth, and she tried to force a smirk as she thought of Caleb's fingerprints lacing surfaces all over the town. Maybe they had already notice. Maybe they had been tracking him and now that he'd disappeared as well.. But somehow she knew that they hadn't, because they would've questioned him long ago. The case had simply been dropped and something new had startled it. And they had chosen Will to talk to first.

**...**

"We've heard you know where the Browns are." Agent John McTiennan had never much appreciated the aspect of ignorance in children, but there was an unsettling nature to the professionalism of coolness when the redhead slipped into her seat; her back straight and her eyes hard, like tunnels. And so he'd used no informality for her - the girl seemed to have touched everything in Elyon's room, or near enough, and there was something in her eyes flashing upward left, then downward right as some inner monologue proved enough for her fingers to clench slightly on her chair. She already knew something, then. If she was making something else up.

"Everyone knows they're on a ski trip. In the alps."

"And who told you that?" There was a sense of worry in Medina's voice, and he'd always known that she was too soft, because as a psychologist she'd know as well the girl was lying point-blank to them. It didn't help, that Agent Lair had stepped beside her, and apparently affection revoked need for etiquette any day. But apparently this was meant to be the tough one and at the question she had paled.

"Cor-nelia..?"

**...**

"Hay Lin said the Browns are in Australia. Deep in the outback."

**...**

"Irma said they're sunbathing, in Hawaii?"

** ...**

"Bora Bora. Definitely Bora Bora."

**...**

"Um.."

**...**

Nerissa grinned, as Will passed her history class and pushed the door open to the girl's bathrooms; sinking onto the floor once she'd hidden within a cubicle, the woman only frowned when cool fingers slipped the Heart of Kandrakar from around her neck, and the girl swung it gently, as though soothing the angst in knowing that trouble was undoubted. The pain in thinking that she might have to ever go back. An interesting line of thought.


	11. Chapter 11

"She's obviously hiding something." The statement had been repeated constantly throughout the past hour - Miranda knew it for a fact. Miranda was invisible - not literally - here, though she felt a cool flush on her cheeks when Thomas Lair's eyes lingered on her in the jumbled throng of children surrounding the spaces between them, before his trio passed by her and she recalled that she had a job to do. She often feared, a job her life might depend on now that she'd let fear pluck her from her prison cell, and the brief safety that had rested in silver-blue eyes. "Will Vandom is all we've got."

"What? No. You're wasting your time."

"We have a _lot_." A set of dark brows raised above a dark set of eyes, and the round face of the man twisted into the slightest frown; movement had ceased as Miranda dug her cold fingers a little deeper into her coat's oversized pockets. She'd never chosen for herself before, if only because Phobos gave her everything rather than making her choose, and she would lie if to say that she'd thrived in the mist of several people asking her if she needed help, and hundreds more bypassing and ignoring her as they pushed past. She willed herself to shuffle forward on wet grass she'd never seen greener of, in the thick, black coat that went warmly to her knees - but Nerissa's gifts would never be as free as Phobos had. And she found that her thin, pale legs would not oblige her. She was meant to fit in here, but she was a rarety even in her own home, so how was she meant to fit in anywhere like this place. "She's everywhere that any evidence takes us."

"I vouch for her myself. Will Vandom isn't anything to do with this, and I assure you that she's-" He was a fool; a foolish kindness, because Miranda knew that Nerissa's word would be law by the squedule that Nerissa would see suited. She wanted this more than Phobos had wanted anything, and she knew how he'd lusted for togetherness. Whatever that might be - Prince Phobos had never known whether to look for love, or power, or his soul. But not every person, got their happy ending. Some one or two would be stabbed in the back by a snake. Thomas Lair had got caught in his own words.

"We have reason to suspect her presence in City Hall, in the district dealing with such things as names, addresses, and _birth certificates_." Miranda herself didn't much like listening, to the slightest egotism betraying a McTiennan's voice. So she could at least to an extent relate to agent Lair, though he would never know the dramatic irony of it all. "In Elyon's home, I find something in that the girl's tissue was _in _the bed, nevermind that this was _after _the fact.. There is more, and I do think we all know from _this _that she's not exactly known for her charm.."

Miranda's face drained, at the sight of a thick volume that held the school records of a pupil; it was hard to be hard, and she wish she could hate the girl as she had once hated Phobos. "That is not the girl who was present during the initial investigation of the Brown family."

"Time feeds guilt, Lair." Thomas Lair caught the file as it was forcefully pushed against his chest. "Guilt is something of regret, and it's all fed by the evidence which presents itself."

"S-sir." That caught their attention. "I- I have information.. S-she made me p-promise not to tell you.."

Why had Cedric made her such a good actress?

"It's abou- Elyon Brown. Sir. I n-eed to tell you."

Maybe her voice really was stuttered out of fear produced by intimidation.

**...**

_"Will! Open the door!"_ The little murmur-boy grinned sadly at his own words as he told a story, but the water Guardian's father had a firm frown traced in lines over his forehead as he banged on the door with agents behind him. Luba merely felt her own body being engulfed in the cool sensation, of four elements burning brightly and the fifth being dimmed by her own body. There was no sign, in the Oracle's information, that Wilhelmina Vandom would be ill, but the observer of the Aurameres felt her own body weakening with the weight of the Universe on one child. _"Please."_

She'd opened the door at that, and Luba scowled as the green eyes stared away from his supposed friend, recounting that in his version he'd merely then opened the door himself. And that she'd been standing, staring. The true Will averted her eyes as she let in three officers of law - she'd said something to herself under her breath that the murmurer's words prevented Luba from hearing. _"Mr Lair."_

_"Some new information, has been revealed."_ There was something odd in the boy that needed to be doused like a flame; his words were not only Will's, but surrounded her. And he kept staying in sync, though in his remembered dream, he was talking. A woman was talking to Will now. _"About Elyon Brown."_

From there the scenes took different turns - the young _'child'_ upsetting himself, or acting so, as he seemed to force out words of catching her when she'd stepped forward, _enjoying_ her anguish when he'd slammed her against the wall; having had thrown her behind him before turning and joining to crush her further with more teeth than lips that were starting to disgust her. Will's fingers quivered, as they clenched blue against the handle of a kettle - offering them tea, before murmuring something of having no ability to throw the water over them. But her hands were shaking. Luba's eyes were fully averted from the aurameres now. Her hands were shaking, as if betraying the eyes that didn't want to. _"I don't appreciate being disturbed. I was going to take a bath."_

_"We wont take long." _Therusset eyes were cold when they flashed up at that, and she lifted the kettle a fraction of an inch before almost seeming to force her fingers to drop it. And she turned around to face the Thomas Lair who'd flusteredly said it.

_"Then you'll manage to squeeze it in tomorrow. Or do you have something to force me into this conversation when I've done nothing wrong."_

_"You shouldn't mind proving that."_

**...**_  
><em>

_"Is there a need for me to prove it?" _Nerissa clapped out a lazy reply to the silence following three police agents' exits, and smirked a little as Will jumped almost unnoticeably; Nerissa invisible, but Will wouldn't know how close the woman had actually ventured, for Nerissa had never bothered actually _being _in the room before.

"Bravo! Bravo!" There was something in Will whirling around, but Nerissa knew that the girl was only looking for a knife waiting to fly at her, or some other sign that she had fallen asleep on her couch, waiting for the bathtub to fill. Or perhaps, currently, she was in the bathtub drowning - the thought however slid in and out of Will's mind quickly, because surely she'd be made to endure the fate. It was a good idea actually. Drowning the waif in her sleep. But she simply waited for the girl to rest her lower back against the kitchen counted, before Nerissa coyly smirked and let her breath be felt on the child's cheek and ear. "Quite the crime, to be cocky about."

"I didn't throw it at them." _No_. Nerissa's own fingers slid over; interfering with the curling steam above the kettle. _You didn't_. And Nerissa smirked as the girl withheld and noise, and simply tensed at the kettle toppling and the fiery hot water draining past that tiny back.

"Oh, but you're involved in the kidnap of Elyon Brown and her family. Didn't you know that it's incriminating for your fingerprints to be on the fake files of her birth, that appeared to have been left when the real ones were surely stolen..? And you slept in her bed.. Sweety, that's not a good idea.." It had become far more enriching to move and speak, as Nerissa's body and voice had grown younger, though she tried to ignore the wrinkles that still crawled over her still dryish skin. The fact that glamouring could only be as convincing as the power behind the spell, though currently she was nothing - it helped to have the air itself, unconsciously steadying and helping her every step. "Didn't you know they were going to catch you out?"

Somewhere, during the point that this had got easier than ever, had the joy been lost in watching tears trickling down the girls face. But Nerissa refused to leave until Will Vandom was crying. Standing, and letting the boiling water wash it's way down her back.


	12. Chapter 12

There was no sympathy, for Will. Cornelia swore by it, but she had also sworn by Caleb; his silence, and the fact that he was nothing like himself created an obsession in her mind - not to have him, or any such ludicrousy, but that at least she'd do what she let him believe needn't be done. Will hadn't sat down, claiming that her back was sore while '_her_' girls all tried not to mention the fact that none of them wanted to be here - more importantly that they didn't want Will to be here, in Cornelia's spacious sitting room. But Will was being _'framed'_. "Is this some joke, because you can't admit that you're sorry? You want us all to feel sorry for you?"

"I didn't say framed, I said suspected. They think I did it!" It had almost felt good, to think that Will was finally asking them for something. For a moment it had felt like Will was Will when she'd been standing at the door. Then Cornelia had stopped looking through the glass, and had opened the door to be met by short, informative,_ but certainly in no way friendly _sentences. "Did any police officers return to _your _houses?"

"Well..ehem.." Irma dropped her timidly raising hand along with the joke, as soon as Will's eyes had flashed to her aggressively.. Cornelia had let Caleb believe that Will didn't need help. He couldn't fix this, and it was in him and the way that everything had changed on the occasions she saw him, that Caleb couldn't face that. And she would love to say, that greed made her keep the true extent of Will from him, but greed was truly what made her ask him again and again to come back. She didn't know, if maybe he had a solution, but Cornelia implied reason for him to come because she didn't want to carry the weight any more. Will was damn heavier than she looked. But Irma still managed to mutter behind her hand, "..Well, he _did _come home.."

It didn't help, that Taranee's eyes lingered on her, but Cornelia knew when ignoring Will was not an option. "Look, I have an idea."

She'd never been good with greed, and if not Caleb, maybe Meridian would remind Will of her place.

**...**

Drake wasn't sure, when Aldarn being best friends with Caleb, had started meaning that Aldarn didn't get to know anything any more, but Caleb was more full of fear. Drake had known, that Caleb was in pain for what he'd done, but there it had been in the quivering strength as a boy held his confessions. Caleb only liked to tell Drake, because Drake was _at least _a sinner too. So some of the judgement was shared - that was the exact theory that Drake had had until he'd realized that Caleb just didn't seem to have anyone else to tell. It was tragedy greater than any story or book he'd read, that Caleb might just be strong enough to have learnt his lesson after all.

It was in the fact that Caleb was honestly just letting people see him, rather than holding back words of a nightmare which had tumbled one on top of the other, dishing out the reason that Caleb felt sick at the thought of living much longer, and then there had been the fact that he simply couldn't die though. He was scared of that as much as he was afraid of himself. But Drake glared at Aldarn's back, thinking that he might never have another moment to deliberate Caleb so thoroughly, because Caleb had left; his face littered in sadness that Aldarn seemed to be absolved of noticing. "He's really sad, Aldarn."

"I know. He stopped being himself, and started trying to impress her." And yet, after all the confessions in the world, Drake knew that Aldarn would always know Caleb better. "I think that's when he got confused maybe."


	13. Chapter 13

It wasn't what he'd expected, nor what he'd imagined, though perhaps it was better. He'd thought himself alluded into some hallucination – a delusion of false fantasy, but she looked like she was dying. She wasn't the person he recalled, and where he'd wanted to smooth his palm over her jaw and leave rashes of kisses.. It wasn't the same. It wasn't Will. Her eyes wide and uncertain, but everything else was wrong and it only hurt him more because a part of him wondered if he'd done this. And another part of him wondered how he could let anyone else have the chance. "Oh."

"Will.." He hated the thought that she might have, in her disappointed eyes roaming the height of him. He _was_. And he expected maybe that it hurt her for him to look fine, as much as it jolted some system in his heart to know that she was not. "Are you sick?"

"No." He didn't know whether to believe the word drawn out too long. Her eyes flashed over him again, but he worst disliked the part where she met his eyes. She was neither happy, nor upset. He didn't like the inability to read her, nor the ability to know that maybe it was because there was nothing to read. No jump to the pulse - he hadn't felt one. That wasn't Will that he'd been sure to be in love with. "Where's the jacket?"

"It's on my back-" He left his moth gaping slightly for a few extra seconds, when he realized finally that she'd meant that of Julian's, rather than the one he was wearing, but he swallowed as his eyes caught the flicker of a smile and breath of humour she tried to hide in looking away. "It's in my room."

At that her eyes came back to him being their focus, but there was something there that made him remember how pretty she was; her face tilted unconsciously with interest, and her eyes curious with a guilt, because.. She didn't want to ask him. He'd forgotten. That he could read every move she made.

"I live here now." The whispered twitch of her lips happened again, and he felt a small smile bracing him as he wished he didn't feel so humble of saying things. "Julian is having a house built.. I think that I'm going to live there. And Drake, I think he-"

"Is his wife alright?"

"His what?" Caleb felt his mind going blank at that moment, before he realized how long he'd been absent, and his memories did hold something of Aldarn asking him to please get up. Caleb knew how Drake liked Will, and his emerald eyes studied her carefully as she watched him watching her. "How did you know he was married?"

"I was there. You weren't." Silence proceeded then, when Will's almost berating smirk dropped and she paled. He could feel her looking for someone other than him. "I- I'm looking for Elyon."

He wish that he could just wake up. Skipping the part where everything was ruined, because she looked more and more like Will every time one of them said something. "So was I. Impudent minx wont stay still."

His grin dropped the moment their eyes had met; the sound of Will trying to swallow a snort of laughter having suddenly had turned her into an Angel. But both of them knew it wasn't funny. And both of them knew more about him for anything to last. He only coughed and walked on, wondering if she'd follow.


	14. Chapter 14

"I think we can do something." Elyon smiled, as Will's sombre gaze crossed in another direction; there was something new, but Elyon couldn't see anything other than possible paranoia when the girl had confessed herself to be doubted. But it was her job, or at least it would spare her from this country somewhat, if it _became _her job to care for her friends. If not Will, Cornelia was the one who'd sent her, and she found for once, that she didn't mind the rag doll squirming very slightly under Caleb's unconcealed staring gaze. "You know, I do miss Earth."

"You'll need protection." Elyon didn't much agree with that, but she knew it was easiest not to argue. A desperation had started to form the moment she'd spoken, and she could almost imagine being back; being herself once more. She was sure that for a short while, she had even quite _liked _Will. Whether or not, there had even been a jealousy - something almost insignificant that she hadn't taken note of at the time, but maybe she'd again fall at the feet of Matt Olsen. Maybe she would find her eyes zooming naturally over a boy in passing, and maybe she'd be hungry again, rather than forcing down food that people were still scarce of elsewhere.

Maybe it was because Will's face had fallen, and because Elyon knew how Caleb was. Maybe everything was a fate of Karma, and Elyon had been a greedy child. She _was _greedy. But they needn't know it. For that, she turned to the _royal advisor_ and smiled, "That's okay, my parents will be there, and I can take Caleb-"

"Can't you take Dra-" Her eyes shot to Will then; the first thing that the girl had spoken freely and she looked strongly like she regretted it, with her eyes suddenly on Caleb who'd never be the same for what she'd just suggested. He was no evil, and she was assured of that from her slightly heightened tendency to remain alert, and Elyon wondered if Will really knew that as she faltered. "I- Never mind."

**...**

Nerissa might've anticipated many things from Will Vandom, but the woman had forgotten that the little brat's friends were actually bound to her. It made sense; they'd have long ago left sight of Will, though the clever one was _using _her, and the air guardian was too young for her own good, but the others merely stayed out of spite for their powers. But Wilhelmina had taken a strong turn, in that Nerissa felt the connection fluctuate slightly between them. It was a shame though, that Will's eyes rested momentarily on the handsome young man, that might just be Nerissa's salvation. "Isn't this nice, what a handsome boy.."

"_Caleb.._" Nerissa frowned at that; her presence being ignored, though Nerissa hadn't bothered follow the girl to Meridian. It was easy, as great, shining olive eyes flashed to the girl alost startled; along with every other set of eyes, forcing the girl from her comfort zone, or at least a place where no one knew she was terrified. "_I- Just don't._"

"Don't ignore me."

_I'm not._ But she had been, for Will's problem would be resolved. The _Queen of Meridian_ had a power of greater persuasion than Nerissa's Cassidy had once posessed, and the water guardian ought to have the power, though Will had outdone herself on failures before Nerissa had even had the chance to intercede. But the girl had always been an awful liar, and Nerissa was no fool to the fact that Will was broadcasting her thoughts - a practised skill by now - and the only surprise for Nerissa was the Caleb's eyes startling to Will as though he might've heard her anyway. _I'm sorry._


	15. Chapter 15

"..So Will and I convinced Alborn and Miriadel, I mean, _'mom and dad' _that I needed to finish the school year. I'll be commuting from Meridian every day!" Elyon Brown was back then, at least for the meantime and yet Cornelia's eyes rested on Caleb, who looked for the second time, like he'd never been on Earth before. He'd given her a small smile, when he'd caught her eye, but Will only stared away; seemingly shamed by his presence, and the blonde had never felt so ashamed of what she had apparently said to them. Drake.. Sometimes it was hard to believe, that Cornelia had learnt the most of the things that made her better from Will, and it was Will that Cornelia thought of, in the long silences she refused to acknowledge with Elyon. "And Caleb's enrolling too, to make sure I'm safe!"

"But wont classes be boring for the Queen of the castle?" The words fell listlessly from her mouth, as Cornelia tried to remember the last time she and Caleb had spoken - though _spoken _was a strong word. He'd been a mess, and it hadn't been long ago; he'd been more interested in her studies than anything else. She remembered now. That was his good mood - he'd mumble a question, when silence filled the room, but she rarely let it because she tried to use every minute she got, and he seemed to like the sound of her babbling on as long as no one was mentioned. Not the girls, though sometimes he'd almost smiled at what she retold of Irma's saying. That was it. Nothing more. There had been no sign of healing. There had been no thought of him emerging any time following, never mind that it had been maybe five days. Yes. And before that had been after Will's birthday.

"Give me school work over sewage projects any day!"

At that moment, a clear, crisp scream had sounded, and a smirk played across her lips as Caleb jumped up from the bench at which he'd been sitting. He flushed though, and Cornelia felt a slight annoyance; more for the strawberry-blonde Alchemy tackling Elyon into a hug and talking furiously fast as Elyon laughed. Irma had said that everything was clear, too - her father had been the one to 'inform' Irma of Elyon's arrival; a worldwide travel, which had ended early. And no one seemed to care about Caleb coincidentally arriving at the same time, though when she'd boredly told Joel who he was, Joel had instantly joked about them being a secret coupling. And Matt had grinned, agreeing, with no idea how pale Will was as he continued to wrap his arms around her. Everyone except Will seemed to be smiling, and Cornelia found her interest slipping, from the new group formed. "I missed you soooo much! Elyon!"

**...**

The family had come back, and agent Joel McTiennan stared down at his own shorthand - no one seemed to remember why he'd marked down a note of birth certificates; he was sure that there'd been a reason, but he'd been called up and the Browns had indeed been spotted, and he'd come out from conversing with them to find that his recollection failed him. And what was a case, when no one could remember what the evidence was for?

But he did have something, Joel knew. He had been in the field for a long time, and missing persons was his profession.. But he did have something, and he frowned as he flicked through the files of one Wilhelmina Vandom, picking up his phone as he reread of all that one little girl had been involved in. It might be nothing. On very few occasions would the more secretive realms of Government get back to any call.

**...**

"You're up." Caleb leant back against the bench. He'd found that after weeks, he'd become far more fond of Cornelia Hale than he'd ever considered, and he stared out at groups of _school pupils_ chattering easily, as he tried not to think of the boy wrapped around what he'd been close to having, if he'd only realized that Will had only ever wanted him back. She'd wanted him to help her, not to choose her every breath and Caleb had liked her for the danger he'd desperately tried to refrain from her. He'd only made it worse. And now he didn't get a say, in the lanky drunk dragging his mouth along the space behind her jaw and ignoring the fact that she'd awkwardly bat him away. But he didn't forget Cornelia, whom he indebted himself throughly for his recomposure in circumstances. "Out of bed at last."

"Thank you, Cornelia." He ignored the umber eyes he could feel boring into him then, as in one quick movement he'd stood and let his mouth find her cheek, because currently, with even Aldarn who knew him, she'd been the best friend in the world for having had come back. She'd come back every time; no matter what he'd said to her. "I really was glad, when you came."

He smiled then, at the pretty pink that brushed over her cheeks, and the fact that in a moment she'd hugged him forcefully. "I'm glad you're better."

"I'm glad I'm back."

He could talk about Will later. It'd taken him forty-odd days to realize that there were other people here too; if not literally, he saw the fact much more clearly, because everyone seemed a little broken.


End file.
